The Lake Taupo Holiday Resort (previously called the Top 10 Holiday Park Taupo), is the most fantastic destination for families with kids. The thermally heated lagoon pool is the biggest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere and cost over two million dollars to build, and the kids (and big kids) can play and splash around for hours. The water is warmer than the water in Fiji year round!

A swim-up café and bar has everything from coffee to a cheeky wee cocktail on offer and there’s also a giant poolside screen that shows sports and movies, almost around the clock.

There are parts of the pool for all ages, with a lovely wee lagoon style paddling pool for toddlers, complete with a toadstool fountain. There’s a massive spa, and a cave with the water in there an impressive depth of 4 metres that you swim to under a waterfall. The kids particularly loved that area and would dive to try and reach the bottom. Kids under 16 aren’t allowed in the cave without adults and the staff were great at doing spot checks.

The accommodation is varied and well positioned. There are powered and non-powered sites, and a variety of cabins to suit every configuration and budget.

We stayed in the Wimbledon Cottage, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit overlooking the tennis courts. It’s a fantastic set-up, the only gripe being there is no oven in the unit, which isn’t ideal when you’re trying to cook for 11 people. The communal BBQ’s in the grounds come in handy though!

The morning was spent sleeping in, relaxing and waiting for the groceries that we’d ordered to be delivered. Countdown provide a great online service. It’s how I do all my grocery shopping at home and I thought I’d give it a whirl on holiday too. It went without a hitch! Dad and Jase cooked up a mean feed of sausages for lunch that we had with bread and salad. I don’t normally like sausages but these were beef beauties from the Kaniere butcher in Hokitika. They were amazing!

During the afternoon, the 3 boys hired out some wee bikes and burnt off a bit of energy with an hour long zoom around the park. They absolutely loved it! Once they were finished we all hit the pool, where the kids ordered their first drink at a swim up bar. They all thought they were the coolest kids on the planet, and sat there swigging their cokes and sprites like the best bar proppers.

Caitlyn and I enjoyed a mocktail each, and I have to say, the prices were really reasonable. Being a captive audience, they could charge what they like but the kids drinks were only $4.00 each and our mocktails were $6.50 each. Really good value for the size.

Jase and I were called upon in the early evening to help out an 11 year old who had fallen off his bike. He had broken both wrists, hit his head and hurt his neck when he had fallen and was in a serious amount of pain. Jase and I took over his care, organised the ambulance and assisted the paramedics. The wee lad was back the next day with two casts on and came knocking at our door (with his head as his arms weren’t working) and had a box of chocolates under his arm for us. Warm fuzzies! It was so nice to help someone again, and made us both miss our ambo jobs (for an instant anyway). Unfortunately the politics at St John are so intense that neither of us would consider returning at this stage. The politics bled the joy out of the job.

Dinner was a mixture of Tracey’s butter chicken and rice, and my honey soy chicken noodle stirfry. We were all tired so it was another early night. Tomorrow we’re out sightseeing, bring it ON!

It’s a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. As we close on the year that I turned 40 (am I now officially middle-aged or has that time frame changed as our life expectancies grow?) I thought I’d share a few morsels of wisdom that 40 years of experience on Planet Earth have given me. Take note young ones.

This is YOUR life. Take control of it. It is not your role to do whatever any other person wants you to do, in order to make THEM happy.

Start running towards the things that scare you. If you get too comfortable, you’ll end up uphappy wondering if there is more out there.

Leave the past behind. Nothing can change it and the more you look behind you, the more you’ll fail to see the wonderful things ahead of you.

Walk away from things that don’t make you happy. The obligations you think you have to attend to. The people you’re afraid to let down. Leave behind the guilt you feel for choosing what you want even though it doesn’t align with other peoples wishes.

Leave the job you don’t like and spend your life complaining to others about. Stop investing time and energy in something you’ve outgrown. That’s why it is not working. Understand it’s nothing to do with you or your work but that chapter is over. Find a new challenge, even though it’s scary and attack it with full heart.

There are always people around you who have more than you. There are also always people around you who have less than you, so be grateful for what you have. Stop comparing yourself to others. You are on different paths, and you will lose track of the path you are walking when you focus too much on someone else’s path. Then you’ll become jealous.

Leave behind negative and toxic relationships and understand how people like that influence your happiness and well being. Leave physically if you have to.

You become what you think about.

No one is responsible for your happiness. Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.

Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.

Jase and I are looking forward to 2018. It’s going to be a busy year full of challenges, physical work projects and travel. Our hope for 2018 is that our families and friends stay healthy, stay happy, stay surrounded by love and stay safe.

Remember you don’t need a new year to make a change, you can make one anytime. Make up your mind, and go for it.

See you later 2017. You’ve been mostly swell, and we’re looking forward to seeing what 2018 will bring.